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Palestinian Arabs visiting Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust museum as part of a program called "Combatants for Peace" said it was a gross error to compare the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict with what the Nazis did to the Jews.

Many Palestinian propagandists and their apologists abroad like to claim that Israel's so-called "occupation" of Judea and Samaria is a new holocaust, and that the Jews, of all people, should refrain from such behavior.

One of the Arabs visiting Yad Vashem said such comparisons are made out of angry ignorance. He and other Arab participants said they can now more clearly understand why Israel bears scars and is so focused on the security of its people.

"When you look at the background of the Jewish nation, we can try to understand your anxiety and fears. A nation that went through something like this cannot live without scars," Ahmed al-Jaafari told Israel's Ynet news portal. "I don't agree with the comparison between the Holocaust and the situation in the territories, and people who make this comparison make it out of pain and anger."

Another Arab who lost a daughter in the current conflict said it was a grave mistake and a disservice to the "Palestinian cause" to make comparisons with the Holocaust, which was a tragedy on an entirely different level.

Such statements will no doubt anger many Palestinians and be ignored by media outlets and organizations biased against the Jewish state. But most Israelis would agree that until these historical backgrounds are acknowledged and understood, there is no basis for genuine dialogue, reconciliation and coexistence.

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